Peter J. Delfyett
You may have noticed that this issue of the LEOS Newsletter is much larger than normal. Welcome to the IEEE LEOS Newsletter’s First Special Issue. This special issue is designed to focus on a topic that is having an important impact on the scientific community and tremendous potential in the commercial arena. The special issue will provide our members with a broad perspective of a distinctive topic. I would like to acknowledge the efforts of Mary Lanzerotti for spearheading this endeavor, and the coordination of the articles.
This first Special Issue will focus on “Non-invasive glucose monitoring in the blood with optical techniques”. The IEEE LEOS Newsletter presents a series of articles dedicated to the use of optics and photonic technologies used in the diagnosis and treatment of diabetes. An overview article describes several optical methods for glucose monitoring, and it serves to frame the articles that follow. Each of the articles describes aspects of a specific optical glucose monitoring technique. For this issue we are pleased to have had two reviewers from this field to help evaluate the papers. Through their efforts and the efforts of our dedicated staff, we have been able to compile a set of papers on the subject of optical based non-invasive glucose sensing techniques.
The first paper is an overview that provides an introductory perspective of the problem, and it highlights the optical and spectroscopic measurement techniques. It also explores the critical challenges that must be overcome to develop a reliable, non-invasive method for monitoring glucose levels. The Special Issue organizes the remaining articles into several sections: infrared spectroscopy (6 articles), Raman spectroscopy (3 articles), polarization techniques (2 articles), and novel glucose sensors (3 articles). This issue promises to be not only informative, but thought provoking, as well. We hope our members enjoy reading the articles in this special issue.
As a final comment, please let us know what you think about our first Special Issue. In addition, if you have any thoughts about other potential areas that may serve as topics for a Special Issue, please let us know.
Comments and suggestions:
delfyett@creol.ucf.edu or p.delfyett@ieee.org